07 APR 12
As of today there are 38 vehicles in the convoy.
| 07 Apr: 2012
River Valley Convoy Update: The River Valley Convoy is only four short weeks away. Your planning committee is ready. Our hosts at Lake Dardanelle Park and our various stops are ready. Are you ready? Is your vehicle ready? Follow up calls were made to Lake Dardanelle Park, Clarksville American Legion, Cove Lake Park, Subiaco Abbey, and New Blaine City Park, to confirm our use of the park and all our stops along the way. The route was re-run yesterday with the "power couple", Paul and Ev, and a few tweaks were made to the schedule and route. Because of some questionable bridges and heavy dust on the Old Military Road, it was decided to stay on payment for the segment from Subiaco to New Blaine. We will still run a stretch of the Old Military Road, and some other back roads, on the segment between Clarksville and Cove Lake. A nice scenic spot was picked for a stop and stretch halfway through that segment. There will only be about 5 miles of gravel roads. We also looked carefully at the available parking at the stops and planned how to get the squads in and out with minimal difficulties, we hope. The vehicles will be divided into three squads led by Steve Smith, Dave Hopkins, and Clayton Jones. Paul Harless will serve as an MP, sometimes falling in at the front, sometimes at the rear, helping get the convoy through some of the intersections and into and out of the parking areas. In addition, calls will be made to the police departments in Russellville, Clarksville, and Paris, to request their assistance getting us safely through the busier intersections. Yes, this years convoy will be passing not only through Paris but London as well giving it an international feel! Keep an eye out for those notable cities along our route. Other sights along the way include the Arkansas Nuclear One power plant, crossing the longest bridge in Arkansas, and a look inside the historic abbey at Subiaco. Don't forget to pack a picnic lunch for our stop at Cove Lake Park, carry a fire extinguisher and first aid kit on your vehicle, make sure your vehicle is licensed and insured for the road, and fill up your tank. Donations and fees: At the drivers meeting, before we depart Lake Dardanelle Park, we would like to collect $3 from each adult participant (16 years and older). That's it, just three dollars. Please bring three one dollar bills so it will be easy to divide into group donations to our hosts at the Clarksville American Legion, Subiaco Academy, and to cover the small fee for the use of the Cove Lake Park facilities. No money is needed from children under the age of 16. This is not a requirement but a request, so we can thank our hosts and offset the park fee. Any additional donations you would like to make personally, especially at the Subiaco Abbey, would be greatly appreciated. Commemorative dash plaques: Evelyn has worked her magic again and prepared commemorative magnets for all River Valley Convoy vehicles. One magnet will be handed out to each vehicle that makes the run. Make sure you get your hands on this rare, one of a kind, keepsake to adorn your vehicle or refrigerator! Help is still needed: We would like to have one additional MP vehicle and possibly a chase vehicle with a recovery trailer to follow along at the rear. Any volunteers? Your help to make the convoy a success would be greatly appreciated. Contact Evelyn Harless or Steve Smith if you can help out. Confirm participation: Please confirm, or reconfirm, your intent to participate with Ev so she can compile an accurate list. Let her know how many riders you will have and list their names so nametags can be prepared. Also let us know the vehicle(s) you will be bringing so you can be assigned to a squad. Your position will be determined based on the best arrangement of vehicles for parking at the stops and we need to put a few slowpokes at the front to help regulate the speed of the convoy. The slowpokes know who they are! As of today we have 38 vehicles on the initial list. Make sure we know you are coming. Revised route and schedule: Segment 1: 900 hours, depart Lake Dardanelle State Park Marina Road to Hwy 64, 3 miles Hwy 64 to Clarksville, 22 miles 1000 hours, arrive Clarksville American Legion Post 25 miles total Segment 2: 1030 hours, depart Clarksville American Legion Post Hwy 109 to Hwy 197, 11 miles Hwy 197 to Oliver Lane, 5.5 miles Oliver Ln. to Union Rd. to Grist Ln. to Old Military Rd to Hwy 309, 7 miles (brief stop and stretch at scenic point on Oliver Ln., no facilities) Hwy 309 (through Paris) to Cove Lake Park, 8.5 miles 1210 hours, arrive Cove Lake Park 32 miles total Segment 3: 1310 hours, depart Cove Lake Park Hwy 309 to Greasy Valley Road, 4.5 miles Greasy Valley Rd. to Subiaco Abbey, 4.5 miles 1330 hours, arrive Subiaco Abbey 9 miles total Segment 4: 1420 hours, depart Subiaco Abbey Subiaco Abbey to Hwy 22, 0.5 miles Hwy 22 to New Blaine, 12 miles 1440 hours, arrive New Blaine City Park 12.5 miles total Segment 5: 1500 hours, depart New Blaine Hwy 22 to Hwy 7, 15.5 miles Hwy 7 (through Dardanelle) to Hwy 326 (Skyline Drive/Bernice Av.), 3 miles (brief form up in parking lot on southwest corner of intersection of Hwys 7 and 326) Hwy 326 to Lake Dardanelle Park, 5 miles 1600 hours, arrive Lake Dardanelle Park 23.5 miles total 102 total convoy miles.
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| 10 Mar: When we cross the
Arkansas River we will be going over a very long bridge. I did a
little research and found out the bridge is called the "Morrison Bluff
Bridge" and also the "Hwy 109 Bridge". It is the longest bridge in
Arkansas Steve
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| 10 Feb: Here is the convoy route we will be executing out of Russellville on May 5th. The route totals right at 100 miles and includes some interesting back roads like the "Old Military Road", which will make the drive a little more challenging. The dirt/gravel back roads don't add any mileage to the route and can be bypassed if the weather is bad. We will depart Lake Dardanelle State Park at 900 hours (9AM) sharp and head north-west along the Arkansas River. Our morning stop will be in Clarksville at the American Legion Hut next to Spadra Creek. They will lay out coffee and donuts for us and our stop there will be advertised in the local paper. Be ready for some spectators. We will then head south-west out of the Clarksville, cross the Arkansas River, follow some back roads through the hills and prairies, drop south through Paris, and make an easy climb to our lunch stop at beautiful Cove Lake Park below below Mt. Magazine. The park has a great picnic area right on the lake with a pavilion, lots of tables, and large clean restrooms. Everyone will need to pack a picnic lunch. After lunch we will make a short drive north to the Subiaco Abbey/Academy. There we will get a brief talk on the history of the place from Father Huge Assenmacher and we can tour the Abbey and walk the Academy grounds. This is an interesting place rich with history. We will then head east on the Old Military Road to a rest stop at a roadside park in New Blaine. After the short break we will continue east, passing Mt. Nebo and the southern edges of Lake Dardanelle, and turn north through the city of Dardanelle. We will cross the Arkansas River again and turn north-west back to Lake Dardanelle Park. We should arrive back at the park at 1615 hours (4:15PM). The park will be listing our event in their newsletters, and the city of Russellville may advertise it as well, so we should expect some spectators to be on hand at the park when we depart in the morning and return in the afternoon. Let's pray for good weather and have a "fun run"! Here are the mileages of the various sections and the time schedule we will try to stick to. This info is also attached here as a Word document file so you can save it and print it. There could be a few tweaks to this between now and May 5th but this is the general route we will follow. If needed, updated route info will be sent out again before the convoy. Maps of the route will be handed out to all drivers the morning of the convoy. Make sure your vehicle is fueled up, carries an operational fire extinguisher, and all vehicles must be licensed and carry liability insurance as per the law. Each vehicle owner/driver is responsible for the safe operation of their vehicle and all "rules of the road" will be followed. We don't want any accidents. Think safety all the way!
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| 01 Feb:
We are set with the Lake Dardanelle State Park in Russellville to
conduct our convoy on May 5th. We lucked out and picked a good date as
there are only a couple other small events going on in the park that
day. There is a large paved parking lot with deep parking spaces,
perfect for trucks and trailers. If we need more room there is also a
large gravel parking area right next to the paved lot. The area should
be very secure being in sight of the visitors center and the rangers
make regular patrols of the area. It's a beautiful park and they are
very excited to have us there. They have dozens of clean camping spaces
surrounded by the lake with various hookups. Here is some general rate
information. If you want more info on the park or want to reserve a
camping space go to
http://www.arkansasstateparks.com/lakedardanelle/ and/or
call 479-967-5516. Note, they have senior discounts! The park
superintendent is Andy Thomas. |
| 29 Jan:
As most of you now know that circumstances necessitated our cancellation of the 2012 Red Ball Convoy at Fayetteville. I have had members that still want something to do this spring, to get out of the house and play with their vehicles. We're contemplating putting together a simple spring convoy that will originate at the Lake Dardanelle State Park in Russellville, AR. It will consist of a one day event departing the park at 0900 on Sat morning, possibly the first week end in May. This will not be a convoy that has any outside support. There will be no registration or fees. You will be responsible for your motel room or camping, as needed. The convoy will be approximately 75 miles. We will return to the park and disembark. This will be a social event. Everyone is invited and welcome. The reason we are planning on departing at 0900 rather than 0800 is to allow some of the local members the time to drive in from home, so they don't have to spend the night at a local hotel. Right now we are only in the planning stage, Steve Smith and David Hopkins are the organizers. This convoy depends on the feed back from our members and friends that show interest in it. It will not be considered a Red Ball Convoy, just a fun run. We're still planning on the 2013 "Red Ballin' Thru the River Valley" convoy. This will be an organized event similar to Fayetteville, yet different in content. Please get back with me as soon as you can, if you have any interest in our "Fun Run" convoy, tentatively on the 5th of May, 2012, 0900 hrs. at the Lake Dardanelle State Park, so that we can continue our planning.
Thanks, Keep 'em
Rollin', Paul
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26 Jan: This is to inform you that due to circumstances we will be canceling "Red Ballin' Thru the Ozarks" for 2012. The main reason for this is that Jerome Casey, who is the commander of the convoy will have to be out of state from the middle of April through the most of May due to his work schedule. The way the convoy is set up Jerome and Marsha assume most of the responsibilities for the planning and operation of the convoy, and it's not something that can be handed to someone else to take over. So our future plans are no convoy in 2012. We have been planning for the past couple of years to do a spring event in the town of Russellville, AR. We are in the process now of trying to get this set up for the spring of 2013. This will still be part of the Red Ballin' Thru the Ozarks program, but will be coordinated out of Russellville, to cover a different area of the Ozarks. It possibly may be called "Red Ballin' Thru Russellville". We' plan on changing the program so that we can include participation with the local residents. Russellville is very suportive of the veterans and the military and the city is very anxious to work with us on this event. They've been trying for the past 3 years to get us to do an event in their town. We want to include a convoy through the mountains around Russellville and see some of the beautiful areas that are available. Our event will possibly include displaying vehicles on Friday afternoon for student study and conversation with vehicle owners about the history of their vehicle, etc. This would substitute for our Friday visits to the Veteran's Hospital and cemetery. There aren't any veteran facilities in the Russellville area. On Saturday the planned convoy would be shortened some so that we could return to the staging area and our vehicles display would again be open to the public for public relations. The staging area will be on the beautiful lake Dardenelle. Camping will be available. We will also have a host motel. The BBQ and awards event will take place on Saturday evening. One local business has already volunteered to sponsor us. I think this event will at least equal the event at Fayetteville, with the major difference being a possible shortened convoy route. We have been contemplating alternating the spring convoy event between Russellville and Fayetteville over the past couple of years. Our next scheduled convoy out of Fayetteville would be the spring of 2014 and we expect that event to be updated and possibly expanded to again be a super event. This is just an expansion of our club activities to convenience a larger group of interested participants. For a lot of you that go to Fayetteville from the West the mileage wouldn't be much different. You would just be traveling east instead of north. Those coming from the east and the south the distance will be quite a bit shorter.
We're sorry not to have
the event this spring. We had thought about moving it to June, but
there are so many other events scheduled, the MVPA Convention, Petit
Jean Mt. Show, the AK Convoy and other local events that we just
couldn't squeeze it in. We will miss seeing all of our friends and
acquaintances, but hope you understand our situation. We'll be
looking forward to seeing all of you in 2013. f you have any
questions or comments, just give us a holler.
Keep 'em Rollin',
Paul & Ev Jerome & Marsha
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